The UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center’s success
in translational research—the process of moving
research findings from the laboratory into the
clinical setting—is evident in drugs like the
Hodgkin’s lymphoma drug known as SGN-35.

When the Cancer Center conducted the phase
1 trial of the drug to establish a maximum
tolerated dose, tests showed beneficial effects
in stopping tumor growth with only moderate
side effects. Even at that early stage, the results
were published in the New England Journal of
Medicine. “We were pleased to discover that
positive responses were observed in 17 of the
45 patients involved in the study, including 11
complete remissions,” says Andres Forero, M.D., a
Cancer Center senior scientist and a senior author
of the study. He also noted that tumor regression
was observed in 36 of the 42 patients who could
be evaluated, and the duration of response to the
drug lasted more than nine months.

The benefits of treatment at a comprehensive
cancer center such as UAB often include access
to therapies that are unavailable elsewhere—
such as SGN-35. Sabrina Gilreath, a resident of
Summerville, Georgia, was the first person in the
United States to receive SGN-35 when she came
to the Cancer Center for treatment for Hodgkin’s
lymphoma in 2008. It was a last resort—one that
saved her life.